who carefully considers the test of colour); for this reason Virgil adds two other signs by which to judge it—(1) if it is 'fat' or 'rich,' (2) if it forms a good crumbling mould. presso: cf. 1. 45.

204. hoc] i.e. putre solum. The object of ploughing is to produce artificially a 'crumbling' or friable condition of the soil like that (cf. imitamur) which this good soil possesses naturally. See 1. 48 n.

206. plura...] 'more waggons move homeward with slow oxen,' i.e. at harvest time. tardis because of the heavy load. The pictorial beauty of the line is wonderful, but commentators discuss whether tardis iuvencis is abl. of the agent, or of accompaniment, or modal.

207. aut unde...] i.e. or (that ground is good for corn) from which.... iratus, 'angry,' because as 'a ploughman' he cannot bear to see such good ground 'idle' (ignava) and unproductive.

210. eruit: illae...] Mark the contrast between the falling trees and the birds that 'seek the sky,' which is brought out strongly by the pause after eruit and the position of the emphatic illae; then there is a second contrast between the homeless birds and the rich promise of plenty which line 211 holds out. petiere and enituit both probably suggest rapidity; Virgil wishes to call before the eye a series of quick transformation scenes.

211. rudis] i.e. the ground hitherto 'untilled' but which now 'gleans brightly beneath the driven ploughshare.' enituit suggests beauty and order in contrast with what was previously wild and rugged; cf. 1. 153 nitentia culta; Aen. 4. 150 tantum egregio decus enitet ore.

212. nam...] i.e. (I mention these soils only) for gravel,

etc.....

213. casias] Cf. 4. 30 n. rorem: sc. marinum, ‘rosemary.' 214. tofus] 'The volcanic tufa, a porous but hard stone common in Italy and much used in old masonry.'-Sidgwick. 215. negant] Personification: the gravel, chalk, etc., have a certain pride in their qualities, they maintain that no other fields produce food equally dear to snakes.' Cf. negabunt (harenae) 234.

217. fumosque volucres] i.e. light, swiftly disappearing mist. The mist does not hang thick and persistently, as it often does over marshy soil, for this land is not marshy but porous, admitting moisture freely and also 'at its pleasure giving it back willingly from itself' in vapour.

219. suo...se] Emphasising the idea of personality like cum vult and ex se ipsa in the preceding line: the soil ever clothes itself in its own mantle of verdure.'

220. nec scabie...] i.e. because the moisture in it never becomes stagnant and brackish.

224. Vesaevo iugo] Proper nouns are continually used as adjectives without any alteration in shape, especially when of the second declension; so elsewhere stagna Averna, Dardana arma, Romula tellus, and in Horace Medum flumen, Sulpiciis horreis. 225. ora] Put for the inhabitants of the district (just as arat Capua'the Campanians plough '), and Clanius for the dwellers by it (cf. 1. 509). The Clanius is 'cruel' to Acerrae

because it sometimes inundated it.

226-258. The methods for ascertaining different varieties of soil. 227-237 To distinguish loose from close, dig a pit and see whether you can get all the earth back into it again or not; 238-247 a salt, bitter, bad soil is detected by putting some in a basket, adding fresh water, and tasting it after it has filtered through; 248-250 rich ground is sticky in the handling, and (251-253) moisture is shown by rank vegetation; 254-258 whether soils are heavy, light, black, or the like is easily seen, but coldness must be inferred from the presence of firs, yews, and ivy.

227. rara sit an utrum rara sit an.

beyond what is usual, beyond the average.

supra morem: i.e.

229. magis] Not magis favet Cereri is kindly to Ceres rather than to Lyaeus, but densa magis go together, thus balancing rarissima quaeque. The more close soils' suit corn,

'all the loosest' the grape.

6

230. capies, iubebis, repones, aequabis]

command.

Futures of

231. in solido] 'in the solid (ground)'; cf. 1. 127 n.

233. almis] 'genial.'

234. uber] Merely poetical here for 'ground.' posse negabunt: the personal pronoun can be occasionally thus omitted when there is no possible ambiguity, cf. Aen. 3. 201 ipse diem noctemque negat discernere; 2. 432 testor vitavisse; Livy 23. 63 id nescire Mago dixit. sua loca, their old place.'

236. glaebas...] 'clinging clods and stiff ridges,' which will need 'sturdy' heifers to plough and break them up.

238. salsa, amara] The opposite of that described in 184 and 220.

239, 240. The lines are parenthetical; Virgil notes that such land (ea) is for agricultural purposes useless (frugibus infelix), because (1) it cannot be improved by cultivation, and because (2) everything planted in loses all its qualities and runs wild. Many make the parenthesis begin with ea, but this leaves frugibus infelix stranded by itself. For mansuescit arando cf. mollite colendo 36 and note.

240. genus, sua nomina] You may plant in it choice vines or fruit-trees-' named sorts' we call them-but they will all degenerate and not retain their character.

241. tu] Didactic emphasis; cf. 4. 106 n.

242. fumosis tectis] Where they would be hung up to keep dry and sound when not in use; cf. 1. 175.

243. ager ille malus] A strong phrase, 'that vile earth'; cf. 256 sceleratum frigus.

244. ad plenum] 'to the full'; cf. 1. 127 n.

246. at sapor...] but the taste will give proof, and with its bitter flavour visibly distort the wry mouths of those who make the trial.' Notice the alliterative mimicry of 247; the repeated t-sounds, especially if temptantum be pronounced strongly, mark the feelings of a person who has tasted something which he desires to spit out. No editors observe this, but the occurrence of such a line in the Georgics, which are full of imitative lines, cannot be accidental. Many put the comma after manifestus; it is not however the clearness of the taste, but the visible effect it produces on the taster which Virgil wishes to portray. In Aulus Gellius 1. 21 it is stated that in libro qui fuerat ex domo atque familia Virgilii for amaro the reading was amaror, a rare word for 'bitterness' found Lucr. 4. 224; with that reading, which is largely adopted, we must render the bitterness will distort...when it is felt (sensu).'

248. hoc denique pacto] 'by this method only'; i.e. we may try other methods, but it is not until we come to this one that we get the true test. denique goes strictly with hoc; see the exactly similar use of demum with pronouns 1. 47 n.

250. ad digitos...] 'grows sticky under the fingers in the handling' (Ecl. 8. 72 n.); under the action of the fingers (ad= 'in its relation to') it does not crumble or crack but forms a tough cohesive mass. The rendering 'sticks to the fingers'

cannot be got from the Latin.

253. nec se...] 'nor show itself too strong when the ears first form'; cf. 1. 111 and note.

254. ipso...] 'declares its character in silence (i.e. without needing to answer any question) by its mere weight.'

256. et quis, cui color] and what is the colour of any soil?' cui is dat. of quis, and this use of quis is common after relatives (e.g. quantum quis accipit, quo quis clarior), but perhaps not elsewhere found after an interrogative. Conington takes quis cui as a double interrogative=τίς τίνι, not τίς τινι.

hly.

at to

257. nocentes] 'baleful,' because poisonous; cf. 4 259-272. Next trench the soil for your vines Select too as a nursery for young vines a spot similar which they are to be transplanted, so that they may take kindly to the change, with which object it is also advisable to replace each plant so that it still faces the same way that it originally did.

259. multo ante] Emphasising the idea of care, forethought, and hard work; cf. the strong repetition of ante 261 and 266.

260. excoquere] 1. 66 n. The word here describes the action of the sun in preparing and pulverising the soil, while 261 describes the similar effect which is produced by exposing it to cold and wind.

263. id...curant] 'this (viz. a crumbling condition of the soil) the winds see to,' etc.

264. et labefacta...] The process was called pastinatio. 265. si quos...]i.e. exceptionally prudent vine-growers. 266. ante...] 'they look out a place where first the crop (i.e. of young vines) may be got ready for the (supporting) trees, like in character to that (similem...et) whither it is to be carried when planted out.' They take care that the seminarium where the young vines (semina 268; cf. 317, 354) are first planted has the same sort of soil, etc., as the place where they are to be planted out permanently, so that they will not find the new soil strange and fail to take to it. On just such principles watchful parents select a preparatory school for tender boys.

Others take seges = the nursery itself, a place in which to prepare a first nursery for the vines (arboribus),' but this involves taking the word in two senses, as with digesta feratur it must describe the crop, not the place where it grows. digesta feratur is usually taken =feratur et digeratur, but Virgil is not thinking of the relation of time between the two acts, but merely of them as the two components of a process, may be carried at its planting out'; cf. 141 n.

270. qua parte...]' on the side where each bore the southern

heat, as each turned its back to the pole, (so) they may replace them.' The plants are personified, as though their faces had been scorched in the sun, while they had turned their backs to the cold. Virgil refers to Theophr. H. P. 2. 5 tilévai dè kai τὴν θέσιν ὁμοίως ἥνπερ εἶχεν ἐπὶ τῶν δένδρων τὰ πρόσβορρα καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἕω καὶ τὰ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν. For axi='pole' cf. 3. 351.

A philosophic reflection on the force of

272. adeo...] 'habit in the young."

273-287. On level rich ground plant vines close together; on hillsides give more space, but let your lines be regular and follow the arrangement of a Roman army in order of battle, not merely for the sake of appearance but to secure the largest amount of space for each plant.

275. densa...] 'plant close; in close-planted soil Bacchus is not less vigorous.' The meaning of densa determines that of denso, and for uber 'the soil' where vines are planted, cf. 234. Conington says that in denso ubere can only mean 'in a close or stiff soil,' and separates in denso from ubere, explaining the latter as 'in productiveness' and in denso as in loco denso consito, but the separation of denso from ubere is harsh, and after all he has to make denso='closely planted.' Many give ' in close-planted fertility.'

=

277. indulge ordinibus] 'give freedom to the rows': again personifying. nec setius: i.e. just as much as if you plant close. in unguem: with quadret. The metaphor is froin workers in marble or wood, who test the smoothness of a joint by passing the nail over it, so that the phrase is='to a nicety'; cf. Pers. 1. 64 ut per leve severos | effundat iunctura ungues; Hor. Sat. 1. 5. 32 ad unguem | factus homo; A. P. 294.

278. secto via limite] Are via and limes the same thing? Kennedy (with Conington) so takes it: 'let every path with its nice-cut boundary-line ('with drawn line,' Con.) exactly tally.' But as Virgil clearly has in mind a plan in which the intersection of the ways between the vines is one great characteristic, it is better to take via and limes as paths running in different directions which cut each other-'let every avenue with its intersected cross-path (or 'where it intersects the crosspath') square to a nicety.' Moreover, secto thus gets a real meaning, and also quadret, which must imply being 'square to' something.

The arrangement intended is that of the quincunx (see Dict. s.v. and the on dice), which was regularly used in drawing up troops for battle, thus